It is often desirable to offer actual samples of a product, or various promotional articles, as part of advertisements incorporated into printed publications. In particular, it is desirable to provide a product package that can be inserted into newspapers with standard automatic insertion machinery. Since the product package or carriage is frequently inserted into an otherwise finished newspaper which must be distributed or delivered to the public within a relatively short period of time, it is particularly important to minimize the downtime of the insertion machinery due to jamming and to avoid tearing or mutilation of the package which can result in the entire newspaper being rejected in a quality control inspection. Of course, a newspaper containing a torn, crushed or otherwise mutilated product package can give the consumer the impression of poor quality which is to be avoided. It is also desirable that this package protect the product sample from being crushed when the newspapers are stacked on palettes. It is furthermore desirable that the packaging not create "footballing," or bulging, of the stacked newspapers. Such footballing causes the newspaper stack to be unstable and unduly concentrates the weight of the stacked papers on the inserted product samples.
Packages according to the prior art are generally in the form of relatively thin pouches that are sealed along their edges. In one example, a relatively thin sealed pouch has a strip along one side suitable for binding between pages of a printed magazine. Another example has a sheet member that wraps around a plurality of product sample packages to protect the product samples. The sheet member also has a strip along one side suitable for binding between pages of a printed magazine. Still another example has a pouch that contains a rigid member to prevent the pouch contents from being excessively compressed by the stacking process.
Although the three examples described above may be suitable for binding in a printed magazine, they are not suitable for inserts for newspaper publications. This is because the automatic insertion machinery requires that the insert be substantially planar over its major surfaces, that it have a relatively blunt and rigid leading edge for insertion into the feed rolls for the insertion machine, and that it have flexibility to bend around the surface of the feed rolls until fed into the feed bin of the insertion machinery.
None of the examples described above have leading edges suitable for automatic insertion purposes. Furthermore, the first two examples have no protection against crushing of the product samples that they contain. Furthermore, the third example containing the rigid member can interfere with the degree of flatness and flexibility required to properly pass through the feed rolls of the automatic insertion machinery.
The product package or carriage disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 504,965 overcomes the disadvantages of known sample package inserts. It is relatively flat over its major surfaces and has a relatively blunt rigid leading edge for insertion into the feed rolls of automatic insertion machinery. In addition, it has sufficient flexibility to follow the curvature of the surface of the feed rolls of the automatic insertion machinery. Finally, since the product sample is nested within an aperture of a substrate of substantially the same thickness as the product sample, the overall package has a substantially uniform thickness thereby preventing a stack of newspapers containing the packages from "footballing" while also protecting the sample from being crushed due to the weight of the stacked newspapers. However, at least one embodiment of this package has an aperture or opening in the upper surface of the outer wrapper which must be both sized and aligned with the sample insert for the purpose of making the sample visible through the package. This aperture or opening results in several practical disadvantages.
First, in assembling the package the outer wrapper must be registered or aligned so that the aperture or opening corresponds to the position of the sample. If there is any misalignment between the product sample and the aperture or opening a portion of the sample is obscured from view and the overall appearance of the package is ruined. In addition, the aperture or opening must be signed to correspond to the product sample. If the aperture is made larger than the product sample for any reasons, such as to provide some tolerance to accommodate for misalignment, then an unsightly border area around the sample becomes visible through the aperture. Of course, if the aperture is made smaller than the product sample, a portion of the sample is obscured from view. Thus, in order to achieve an attractive package a close tolerance between the aperture size and the sample size must be maintained. In addition, the sample must be precisely aligned or registered with the aperture or opening to assure the proper unobstructed presentation of the sample through the aperture. This maintenance of tolerances and alignment requirements increases the manufacturing set up time and increases the volume of unsatisfactory or rejected packages.
Second, the outer wrapper surface has several free or unsecured edges surrounding the aperture. When the package is moving into and through the automatic insertion machinery, these unsecured edges can become caught or entangled causing the outer wrapper of the package to tear or wrinkle or to otherwise become mutilated. This disadvantage not only increases the volume of rejected or waste packages, but can also result in the automatic insertion machinery becoming jammed, shutting down the automatic insertion line. Since this insertion process can be one of the final steps in assembling the newspapers for distribution or delivery, any downtime for the automatic insertion machinery can jeopardize the timely distribution or delivery of the newspaper. Of course, these unsecured edges of the aperture in the outer wrapper can become snagged or torn during other processing or handling operations.
Third, the use of the aperture or opening to display the sample can interfere with the placement or layout of print or graphic advertising material on the surface of the package. The advertising layout person must arrange the graphic and text advertising material around the aperture. This task can often be difficult and can restrict or interrupt the communication of the overall advertising message desired by the sample manufacturer.